(Back to Corporate Business page) Nov. 3, 2013 - This is the meeting we are doing in a few days. Agenda The list below will be linked to the corresponding minutes as soon as I figure out how to code that. For now, please scroll down this page to find them. story Nov. 3, 2013 - MinutesNov. 2012 - not available Nov. 2011 - not available Nov. 2010 - not available Nov. 2009 - not available Nov. 2008 - below Nov. 2007 - below Nov. 2006 - below May 2006 - below Feb. 2006 - below Nov. 2005 - below Aug. 2005 - below Nov. 2004 - below
Nov. 2008 LO-OP Board 2008
Comments/Agenda: 2-2:15 Hello and welcome
2:15-2:30 Liza's report on year's happenings
2:30-2:45 Discussion
2:45-255 Goodbyes
I think I’ll try to shorten my report by putting a lot of it in this written report.
The topics are: Minutes from last year – They’re somewhere. I even have a tape recording of it – somewhere. Does anyone remember critical issues that we need to address this year? I don’t. If we can’t come up with anything let’s just approve them and I’ll get them into our minute book when I can…
Financials – 2 important points, no 3 (maybe I’ll think of more as I write…)
Right this minute we’re broke. I’ve been hiring Tom Cutler to rebuild old computers and I’ve spent all the money we have.
I have the form to request $10,000 from Tides Foundation so we will be fine within 2 weeks of the day I get the form filled in and faxed. Meanwhile, I’m paying the few expenses LO*OP has out of my pocket.
We do have one big responsibility: taxes. We don’t owe anything. We don’t even owe a tax return because we are under $25,000 this year but I have to contact the accountant on Monday and make sure we have given whatever notice the IRS does require.
I haven’t paid the rent on our office in about 2 years. The Sobrato Foundation seem very relaxed about it and I had to beg them to send me a bill. $3,000 of the $10,000 that comes from Tides will go for rent.
I have a list of 5 foundations that may be interested in the Museum. Letters of inquiry start the process. Since I’ve actually gotten these notes written I may also be able to get that letter out too. Wish me luck. Better still, ask me for a copy.
Program – Our only program is the History of Computing in Learning and Education Project. I keep getting discouraged at the slow progress I am making but Carol visited last week and was very pleased and impressed. Carol took several pictures which I’m including in this report. I’ll comment about each one of them. Hopefully that will give you a good idea of what I’ve been doing.
This is Connie Williams, volunteer par excellence. She has been inventorying our magazine collection for several months. We are almost ready to add these 100 items to the general catalog. Stay tuned.
This is the whiteboard in our cataloguing room. The map at the upper left shows the layout of our 4 room suite. You enter into the “Museum room” that will have seating surrounded by exhibits of working antique computers. (The next picture is what it looks like now.) If you walk straight ahead you go into the “Store room” that is full of shelves (not shown)with stuff waiting to be scanned. There’s still a lot of my stuff mixed in with the HCLE collection but Connie and I are getting through it. The room on the front left is the “Business Office.” The lower left room is the “Catalog room.” In here are 4 work stations and a couple of scanners. In here volunteers will scan items and enter them into our digital repository and catalog. Jacky and the team she assembled two years ago got the initial structure for the project going and made important strides in implementing the catalog. I’ve been building on that start.
Most of the other writing on the whiteboard lists the old computers we are fixing up to use in the processing of artifacts and what they need to be put into production. These are mostly 486 PCs that people donated to use when they upgraded to fancier, faster computers. They work just fine for what we are doing.
In front of the board you can see a roll of blue cat-5 cable Tom and I are using to network all the workstations together.
The “Museum Room” is a second acting “Store room” at the moment. Believe it or not, I had this room cleaned out last spring but I lost another storage space and this is the result. Along the left side of the picture you can see an Apple II on one of the display tables against the wall. There are Apples, Ataris, Radio Shacks, a PDP-8e and lots of others in this jumble. The colored box in the middle is one of the first robots produced at a “toy.” Carol really raised my spirits by being excited instead of disgusted by this mess.
This “Business office.”
The items on the horizontal files in the foreground have been cleaned and bagged in polyethylene for preservation. Next they will be catalogued here in the “Catalog room.”
It’s late and this file is getting awfully large. I hope this gives you an idea about what I’ve been working on.
You can also take a look at www.computinginedhistory.org to get an idea of what the museum may look like. The company that was hosting our free site at www.loopcenter.org was sold and they have locked us out. I’m working on getting that site back up. Meanwhile, the old site at www.loopcntr.org still works. It has a link to the wiki, the best place to see the inner workings of HCLE.
Hopefully you’ll all see this before the meeting – talk to you tomorrow, Cheers, Liza
Nov. 2007
Notes from LO*OP Center Board Meeting November 4, 2007
Present: In person – Jacky, Liza; By phone: Frank, Jonah, Nadine and Lorna
Carol assigned her proxy to Jacky.
Meeting called to order at 2:15pm, Conference Room, Computer History Museum, Mt. View, CA
Approved unanimously: to waive the reading of the minutes from the previous board meeting.
Report from the Executive Director
History of Computing in Learning and Education Project
Two years old. Timeline already slipping.
Recruited 2 hot volunteers at this Vintage Computer Show
Poised to really take off
New office (at Sobrato Center for Nonprofits, Building 4, Milpitas, CA 95035) has 4 rooms: Storage, Work Room, Executive Director’s Office with room for an additional person; Lounge where the historical equipment will be displayed
Volunteer, Connie Williams, has organized and labeled the magazines. Boxes are being unpacked and documents filed.
Four workstations: 3 computers, 1 new scanner. Computers not yet networked. 2 roll-around stations. The office is crowded but workable with 6 people present.
Conference room right next door; holds up to 25 people and is free of charge.
It was a total pain to bring the furniture and materials up the stairs but the conference room made it worthwhile.
Open Educative Systems (OES)
Is a Theoretical framework for evolving new learning enviroments
Looking at future
Self-organized learning
In 6 months Liza may propose OES as an active LO*OP project
LO*OP offices now separated from GoQuiet; LO*OP will continue to receive mail at the address at Elwell; landlord has agreed to move the suite number when GoQuiet moves to a different office.
All agreed to waive the financial report.
Liza provided the following information:
Vasconcellos project is entirely separate now; LO*OP got 10% fee
$4,000 in checking account; $30K in the Merrill Lynch endowment (generates about $200/month) and $9000 in the Tides foundation
Proposal to add David Wigglesworth to the Board.
Frank’s input
Met David years ago; A number of projects 10-20 years ago
Now in Austin Texas
Other inputs
David just had 80th birthday
Organizational Development is David’s area and he is good at it
Intercultural Resources Forum 91, 92, 94
Book donations to LO*OP (David was a book reviewer)
Time on his hands
Good Editor
No money (so we still need to find a Board member with money.)
Jonah will have money if his new business thrives.
If we have a larger board, then there can be subcommittees and people with museum background.
Liza moved that we invite David to join the Board effective if/when he accepts; Frank seconded. Carried unanimously.
Nov. 2006 May 2006 LO*OP Center, Inc.
May 2006 Board Meeting, Sun. May 7, 2006
LO*OP office, 1000 Elwell Court, Suite 110, Palo Alto, CA
Call to order at 10:45 am. Present: Jacky, Nadine, Liza, Carol; Lorna (10:45-12:15) & Frank (10:45 to 11:10)
LO*OP Web site(s): hosting, webmaster, URL. The Big Tent URL expires in early June so this is the most urgent item.
A free account on Inreach.com was donated; the new website is up: http://www.loopcenter.org . Liza will teach us how to upload ourselves and submit pages to her for uploading. Liza and Jacky were commended for the hard work that brought us to this point.
Motion 1 (Unanimously approved): We will use the Inreach account as the LO*OP Center official website.
LO*OP board member communication: how, how often, etc.: We will not be able to use the message board after early June but we can keep the Google group
The message board (embedded messages) should be allowed to die. Jacky suggested using a googlegroup. A website bulletin board could be on the LOOP site.
Motion 2 (Unanimously approved): We will allow the Boardserver message board to die after June.
It was agreed that the Googlegroup be retained, for now.
LO*OP Projects: What are the plans for the History of Microcomputers in Education (HCE) for the rest of the Calendar Year? Will HCE be the only project? Should we encourage others? What are the criteria? What will attract projects to LO*OP?
Liza will go to Netherlands to attend an IEEE meeting for HCE. Since HCE has no funds for this purpose she will finance the trip and conference fees herself. Liza has set a goal to raise $100,000 for HCE by end of year through individual donations. Beyond running HCE and serving as LO*OP’s corporate executive director, she prefers not to administer more projects.
Nadine’s after-school project died when she missed the grant proposal deadline. Sally Westgate’s “BuyBlue” education and political website (for disclosing the political orientation of various merchants) did not get beyond the conception stage as she would not accept the 10% requirement.
Motion 3 (Unanimously approved): The LO*OP Board will not actively solicit new projects until January 2008.
Secretary’s report including minutes of Feb. meeting:
Carol’s legal responsibility as corporate secretary is to keep the Minute Book and official board member list, to distribute notices of board meetings according to the procedures stated in the corporate bylaws and to file the Statement of Information for domestic nonprofit corporations with the CA Secretary of State biannually. She may perform these duties personally or delegate them to another under her supervision. The Minutes will include only the Motions and very pertinent discussion. Carol will also circulate her more complete notes.
Motion 4 (Unanimously approved): The minutes of the Feb. 4, 2006 Meeting are accepted as submitted unless Lorna, Nadine or Frank (who did not receive their copies in advance of today’s meeting) send corrections to Carol by May 18, 2006. In the event of corrections requested, a revised version of the Feb. 4, 2006 Minutes will be circulated and the revised Minutes will be accepted unless corrections are submitted to Carol by June 4, 2006.
Treasurer’s report.
Jacky’s report covers only one of two checking accounts, not including the JVLP account. Liza would call it a “Checkbook Report.” The ensuing discussion on how Liza and Jacky will handle the bookkeeping will be reported in the Board notes.
LO*OP Center’s fiscal year 2004-05 tax returns must be filed by May 15, 2006 or risk late penalties. Liza is meeting with corporate accountant, Laarni von Ruden, tomorrow to provide any missing data and will sign the returns in time for the filing deadline. All filed tax returns are available at the LO*OP office for review by board members from May 15, 2006 on.
Followup on collecting money from the Vasconcellos project (JVLP)
JVLP has become more hassle than it’s worth. It distracts Liza from other work including HCE.
Motion 5 (Unanimously approved): Our relationship with JVLP will end by Dec. 31, 2006 whether or not JVLP has received its 501 (c) (3) federal tax exempt status. If JVLP can not legally receive the fund balance, it will be given to the Stu Cooney donor-advised fund at the Tides Foudation of San Francisco. The fund can be held at Tides until either JVLP has the appropriate status to receive it or arrangements can be made to return it to the respective donors.
Motion 6 (Unanimously approved): Liza will ask JVLP to authorize $15,000 to be transferred to the LO*OP general fund for payment for services incurred through the end of 2006 calendar year.
Amendment to Motion 6 (Unanimously approved): $15,000 or direct expenses, whichever is larger.
The ensuing discussion on how the JVLP termination will be handled will be reported in the Board notes.
Closing discussion on Jacky’s proposal (copy attached and included in these Minutes) including a LO*OP Orbit project to establish a structure for taking on new projects.
Liza is dubious, due to the work required on her part to make any project succeed. She sees LO*OP as attracting, not promoting new projects; also she’s unwilling to umbrella other projects at this point. Nadine reminded us that any eventual new projects would be brought in be an individual board member. The discussion was tabled.
Respectfully submitted,
Carol Vesecky, Recording Secretary
Feb 2006
LO*OP Center Inc.
Periodic Board Meeting, Sat., Feb.4, 2006, At the home of Jacky Hood, 1066 Fife, Palo Alto, CA
Call to order at 2:25 pm; Present: Jacky, Nadine, Frank , Liza, Carol, Lorna
Reading of 2004-2005 Minutes:
Motion 1 (Unanimously Approved): 2004-2005 Minutes adopted as read.
Review of Agenda
Discussion of difference between LO*OP Board meetings and project/program meetings – Liza
Board meeting frequency – Nadine
Motion 2 (Unanimously Approved): Board meetings will be held twice yearly. Liza will prepare each agenda. In addition, Liza will circulate monthly to all Board members a report covering all active projects.
Various chances in the order of discussion were made during the meeting.
Motion 3 (Unanimously Approved): Lorna McDougall is elected to the LO*OP Center, Inc. Board of Trustees and will be eligible to vote in the May, 2006 meeting.
Current Year Outlook – Group discussion
Reports
Projects: History of Computing in Education - Liza
Recent progress; Nadine’s response to Overview
Vasconcellos Legacy Project –Liza
Tax-exempt status not applied for as of Jan 1, 2006; Liza’s concerns
Board instructions to Liza: 1) Seek membership on the Vasconcellos Legacy Project Board of Directors; 2) Request monthly reports and a list of expenditures; 3) Acquire the 10% of revenue fee originally agreed upon from JVLP by March 1, 2006.
Motion 4 (Unanimously Approved): All future projects of LO*OP Center must agree to contribute 10% of any monetary income to the LO*OP Center general fund. At its discretion, LO*OP Center may choose to spend any or all of these funds for the benefit of the contributing project. Any tangible or intellectual property generated through the use of these funds reverts to LO*OP at spin off or cessation of the project.
General Operations:
Current Facilities and Space sharing
Commend HCE team for office organizing - Liza
Motion 5 (Unanimously Approved): The LO*OP Board commends the HCE team for organizing the office.
Nov. 2005
LO*OP Center Inc.
Annual Board Meeting
Sunday, Nov. 6, 2005
At the home of Liza Loop, 192 E. Middlefield Rd, Mt. View, CA
Minutes submitted for review and correction by Liza Loop
Call to order at 2:30 pm
Present: Jacky, Nadine, Frank (by telephone), Liza, Carol (by telephone)
All agenda topics were discussed and motions approved unanimously.
Reading of 2003-2004 Minutes:
Additions
Changes
Approval
Motion 1: Waive reading of minutes. Motion 2: Commend Carol for a fine job catering GLOBE Promotional event. Motion 3: Commend Frank for his work on Seniors GLOBE and Happy Valley School.
Reports
Projects:
Senior GLOBE – rumors of its demise are not exaggerated – Liza, Frank
History of Microcomputing in Education – Jacky, Liza
Vasconcellos Legacy Project – Jim Weston via Liza
Separate corporation formed
Tax-exempt spin-off expected in Feb.
Library – Liza, Jacky
Closing
Book donations
Keizai Society
General Operations:
Current Facilities
Space Sharing
Financial:
Grants
Cash Flow
Tax Returns
Motion 4: Include interim Treasurer’s report in these minutes as submitted; revise budget on page 4.; circulate final report by email for final written approval by board members.
Current Year Outlook
Affiliates
Frank Rosten –
Liza Loop -
Other Old Business
Need for new Board members
Motion 5: Invite Lorna McDougall, Jay Thorwaldson, and Richard Karpinsky to join the Board.
Update Note from LL : Lorna will be at the Feb 4th meeting in person.
: Jay declined because a board position would make it inappropriate for him to feature us in his newspaper, the Palo Alto Weekly.
: Richard has not responded yet.
Other New Business
Grant Seeking
Motion 6: Funding campaign goal for 2005-6 fiscal year is $12,000; prepare campaign calendar.
Motion 7: The Board reaffirms that virtual attendance at meetings may be substituted for in person attendance at the discretion of the individual member.
Motion 8: Board will convene for its next meeting on Sat., Feb. 4, 2006 at 10 a.m.
Adjournment 3:30 pm
Respectfully submitted:
Liza Loop
Acting Secretary
Jan 26, 2006 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Aug 2005 MINUTES OF LOOP CENTER BOARD MEETING August 7, 2005 Home of Nadine Grant
Attendance: Nadine Grant, Jacky Hood, Liza Loop, Carol Vesecky
Absent: Frank Rosten
The meeting was called to order at 2:02 pm. The minutes were read and accepted as submitted. It was agreed that a complete “secretary’s report” will be submitted, along with minutes containing only motions.
Treasurer’s report 2003-2004. Jacky said that a financial report showing $120,000, 90% of which is the John Vasconcellos Legacy Project (JVLP), will be circulated to the Board. Quicken has been installed on Liza’s computer. Jacky is trying to ensure that the numbers agree. Data entry is being done by hand. In two weeks the work could be done, by Sept. 5. Liza will meet with John Vasconcellos to discuss his needs for further LO*OP services.
Question for Liza: what vision does she have for LO*OP Center in 5 years?
A: There should be 2-3 projects Liza is not involved in. Liza could be “Founder” and Emeritus Board member.
GLOBE should be independent, Liza being only a trainer of trainers. It should be administered by others.GLOBE can live or die -- if it has momentum, it lives.
Projects like the Writing Center should be proposed. They should only happen if they come with funding.
Vasconcellos should be spun off; it’s too large. HME should be nearing completion or completed, having spent ca. $500,00 with an annual budget around $200-300,000. It should have a traveling exhibit to be rented or donated to museums around the world. Liza should be participating in conferences, speaking on topics such as the future of education. Of course, underneath, research and networking should be happening.
Question: Is JVLP too large? What’s the definition of too large? Won’t History of Microcomputing in Education (HME) become too large? Liza: For one project not to overpower, projects need to be comparable. Nadine: You mean the administrative overhead should be comparable. Liza: JVLP has its own director; it runs itself. Jacky: If a project grows up outside of LO*OP, as did JVLP, does it seem less manageable? Liza: Jim Weston is JVLP’s director and reports to me. What needs to be reduced is worry time. Tax returns had to be done; we had to play catch-up last year. This year should be easier. The plan was for the JVLP project to be spun off by now, it having become its own nonprofit. Be part of LO*OP was an interim solution for them. Currently it’s unclear whether or not they will withdraw.
Projects should have a life of their own. Any project will have all the features listed on the back of the green brochure:
Mission Statement clarification and restatement consideration using inputs from Frank’s email summary:
Jacky: It would be helpful to select a subset of the “education” vision.
LO*OP’s Mission Statement was defined as “To promote people’s ability to learn and adapt to changing social, technological conditions.” A motion was taken that the current mission statement be continued.
Clarification of criteria for acceptable LO*OP projects: (Although it is assumed that projects have to be accepted by the Board and are therefore screened, it would be nice to be able to attract projects without the prospect of them “running screaming when they realize that LO*OP does not fund projects.”
Liza suggested projects should complete Stage 0 and be well into Stage 1 before they become “official” LO*OP activities.
Discussion moved to “cultural” and “technology” as being two categories that need to be covered in a project. Recapping, the IRC was mainly cultural; Touch Science Russia was both; Keizai was hard to define because it has so many projects; JVLP is cultural; Open Educative Systems was both.
A motion was taken that priority should be given to projects that have both cultural and technological components.
Criteria for projects were defined as follows:
1. The project must have the same fiscal year as LO*OP Center.
2. The project must have a time frame, i.e. a beginning and an end.
3. It must have the support of at least one Board member.
4. It must have a written proposal for Phase Zero that includes conceptualizing, partnering, a budget detailing what resources and funding are needed, Stage 1, details where resources and funding are to come from.
5 Scope – who are the beneficiaries?
Written Proposals to the LO*OP Board should contain a definition of success or failure and details for measuring results. If the Board votes to support a proposal, it will issue a letter showing the Board’s motion to submit the proposal to outside sponsors and/or grant makers.
A suggestion was made that preference be given to projects undertaken jointly with other organizations.
Liza has a preference for projects that accomplish what she wants done in the world. The question of whether it is easier or more difficult if LO*OP has a partner organization rests on whether collaboration makes Liza’s work load greater or lesser. Preference should be given to projects in which LO*OP’s administrative labor is not overtaxed. Optimizing the use of Board resources means minimizing the labor the Board contributes.
LO*OP historically has gotten a lot of its projects because its overhead has been kept at 10%. Other nonprofits (e.g. Stanford) typically used to charge between 50 and 100% for administrative overhead. LO*OP Center hasn’t been run in that way. In the past, project leaders have managed all their own monies, raised all project support, and supplied their own offices and equipment. As administrator, Liza has ONLY reviewed proposals and financial reports and filed the organization’s taxes on a volunteer basis. If Liza works on a project (as compared to overall administration) but is not paid in cash, her labor is counted as an in-kind donation to the project.
Example: A project with an overall budget of $150,000 pays $15,000 to LO*OP from which LO*OP pays its accountant, administrative office rent, telephone, insurance and other G&A expenses. LO*OP uses a fund accounting system which treats each project as a separate fund that pays a percentage of G&A. If there is surplus money in a project’s G&A account, the project leader may request that LO*OP purchase equipment for use during the project period. That equipment is retained by LO*OP at the close of the project.
All Project Leaders should expect is Board approval, Board advice and consent, tax filing by LO*OP (after they file a financial report using LO*OP’s format in a timely way). Compatible assistance -- no fundraising! This should cost them a minimum of 10% or $1000. A project must have at least $10,000, including cash flow and volunteer labor.
Question: When does it become LO*OP Center’s project – is this based on the success and failure of the proposal? Jacky: in companies, a project comes to the board, they fund phase 0, and no one is embarrassed if the project is not successful.
Vision: LO*OP should have a $240,000 budget, minimal administrative requirements, board members should be more than administrative help; also resources that can be tapped for projects to do speaking engagements, backed by networking, research and collaboration.
Learning Options – History of Microcomputing
Creation of a Project Manager Job Description: This topic was not discussed, but will be covered by Jacky via email.
Status of Existing Projects:
a. Vasconcellos project:JVLP approached LO*OP because Liza was on Vasconscellos’ initial committee. His donors needed tax deductibility; this money cannot legally be run through his political funds. The project met the “culture” criterion. There was a written proposal, emailed around the Board and approved by the Board. There was an exit strategy – by 6/1/05, they should have had their own nonprofit. There has been no notification of a 501 (c) (3); this must be brought up again. A motion is needed that the Board is willing to extend until Dec. 31, 2005. JVLP is paying LO*OP $5000 per year. They need to pay their second $5000 at the end of the year. 1 ½ years have been paid. Insurance needs to be paid. Why not just invoice them (Nadine’s suggestion)? Liza suggested that LO*OP include official notice that they need to withdraw by Dec. 31.
b. GLOBE:Liza explained that Frank has forgotten he was told there was as yet no funding when he came to onto the GLOBE project. She picked out 20-30 foundations to study and described the process but Frank considered the fundraising to be outside his skill set. He continued to work without assurance of payment. Jacky agrees with Frank that getting grants is too much work for the net return. She prefers soliciting corporate sponsorship.
Liza brought GLOBE into LO*OP eight years ago while working on a project for MidPeninsula High School. She has worked on it as a part-time volunteer since then but it was officially dormant until three years ago (one event had been held). At that time, Frank offered and accepted the management, including the fundraising, which he said he’d try to do if Liza would help. They both did a lot of work. The Whaletail proposal to the California Coastal Commission was rejected.
Liza believes a mistake is made when people start working on Stage Two (Development, etc.) before Stage One (Funding & marketing) is completed. Under such circumstances, if the funding process fails, potential staff persons will often complain, “I need to pay my rent.” LO*OP needs to be clear in its boundaries. Jacky commented that, in her company, normally a subcontractor is not paid unless her company has been paid. LO*OP needs to have contracts -- words on paper. If a person is performing on his/her own, prior to funding, that person is a volunteer, LO*OP is not responsible for salaries or stipends. Stage 0 and 1 get done by volunteers. Stage 2 is the paid phase. Stage 3 is evaluation, paid or not, depending on whether evaluation has been included in the budget and the budget has not been overrun.
Liza wants to become GLOBE’s trainer of trainers, developing a self-sustaining GLOBE training and support center. Is it OK if we consider the time she spends doing that as a volunteer to be an in-kind donation that gets costed out? To be self-supporting, community marketing is needed. The purpose of the upcoming event is to publicize that LO*OP Center is doing GLOBE. Carol suggested we may need more than one event such as that planned for Aug. 27 to attract interested parties. (LL: Event rescheduled to Sat. Sept 17th to permit proper publicity.)
Frank is less available, so GLOBE is on hold – it’s looking for a Project/Program manager. Jacky: maybe the name should be changed to GLOBE Train-the-Trainer. It’s a resource to train trainers. Marketing should talk about Training the Trainer, not so much GLOBE. Liza believes first we need to let them know what GLOBE is. Educating them that you’re the resource. From the marketing p.o.v. it makes a difference how you target. GLOBE activity is LO*OP activity, promoting Liza as Trainer.
We’re still in Phase 0, Conceptualization.
c. History of Microcomputing in Education (HME):LO*OP Center’s own history is computer history. The HME project is seen as a way of processing Liza’s “stuff”; also forwarding LO*OP’s initial mission of applying technology to education and predicting major changes in education. This change hasn’t happened. A benefit for Liza is cleaning out her storage units. The public benefit is to see the difference between what was done then and what is being done now and what still can be done.
An original project write-up needs to be done for this project. (Liza’s action item)
Jacky: For HME, the Program Champion is Liza and Jacky is Program Manager, while Jacky also recruits another Project Manager. “HME lite” is Jacky’s name for the first Phase of HME. Its objectives are: creating a database, archiving, photographing the physical stuff, scanning, and doing websites. An estimate was sent to the board identifying volunteer positions along with the paraphernalia needed to run the project. The real work involves archiving artifacts and database development. Another organization Jacky is working with has a “working board” that meets 2-4 times a month. Jacky suggests we try this. Different types of volunteers will make up the working board. If she gets the right volunteers, the project could be completed within 1 - 1 ½ years.
Liza’s conception of the whole History of Microcomputing in Education Project is larger than Jacky’s, so they have agreed to view the section Jacky is working on as HME Phase A. It should complete Stages 0-4 independently of Phase B, etc. Liza’s writeup will reflect this phased approach.
Some initial HME information has been published on a Wiki, meaning we can change it. Roughly 200-300 photos have been scanned. Later they can be moved to a non-editable site.
Website: Liza: projects are underway. Past and present achievements, requirements for future projects will be posted. Loopcenter.net is now available as a domain name. It will have a different look and feel from loopcntr.org which can remain Liza’s personal page.
The Project Manager job description can be put on the Wiki by Jacky.
Board Minutes
(Back to Corporate Business page)
Nov. 3, 2013 - This is the meeting we are doing in a few days. Agenda
The list below will be linked to the corresponding minutes as soon as I figure out how to code that. For now, please scroll down this page to find them.
story
Nov. 3, 2013 - MinutesNov. 2012 - not available
Nov. 2011 - not available
Nov. 2010 - not available
Nov. 2009 - not available
Nov. 2008 - below
Nov. 2007 - below
Nov. 2006 - below
May 2006 - below
Feb. 2006 - below
Nov. 2005 - below
Aug. 2005 - below
Nov. 2004 - below
Nov. 2008
LO-OP Board 2008
Comments/Agenda:
2-2:15 Hello and welcome
2:15-2:30 Liza's report on year's happenings
2:30-2:45 Discussion
2:45-255 Goodbyes
I think I’ll try to shorten my report by putting a lot of it in this written report.
The topics are:
Minutes from last year – They’re somewhere. I even have a tape recording of it – somewhere. Does anyone remember critical issues that we need to address this year? I don’t. If we can’t come up with anything let’s just approve them and I’ll get them into our minute book when I can…
Financials – 2 important points, no 3 (maybe I’ll think of more as I write…)
Program – Our only program is the History of Computing in Learning and Education Project. I keep getting discouraged at the slow progress I am making but Carol visited last week and was very pleased and impressed. Carol took several pictures which I’m including in this report. I’ll comment about each one of them. Hopefully that will give you a good idea of what I’ve been doing.
Most of the other writing on the whiteboard lists the old computers we are fixing up to use in the processing of artifacts and what they need to be put into production. These are mostly 486 PCs that people donated to use when they upgraded to fancier, faster computers. They work just fine for what we are doing.
In front of the board you can see a roll of blue cat-5 cable Tom and I are using to network all the workstations together.
It’s late and this file is getting awfully large. I hope this gives you an idea about what I’ve been working on.
You can also take a look at www.computinginedhistory.org to get an idea of what the museum may look like. The company that was hosting our free site at www.loopcenter.org was sold and they have locked us out. I’m working on getting that site back up. Meanwhile, the old site at www.loopcntr.org still works. It has a link to the wiki, the best place to see the inner workings of HCLE.
Hopefully you’ll all see this before the meeting – talk to you tomorrow, Cheers, Liza
Nov. 2007
Notes from LO*OP Center Board Meeting November 4, 2007
Present: In person – Jacky, Liza; By phone: Frank, Jonah, Nadine and Lorna
Carol assigned her proxy to Jacky.
Meeting called to order at 2:15pm, Conference Room, Computer History Museum, Mt. View, CA
Approved unanimously: to waive the reading of the minutes from the previous board meeting.
Report from the Executive Director
All agreed to waive the financial report.
Liza provided the following information:
Proposal to add David Wigglesworth to the Board.
Nov. 2006
May 2006
LO*OP Center, Inc.
May 2006 Board Meeting, Sun. May 7, 2006
LO*OP office, 1000 Elwell Court, Suite 110, Palo Alto, CA
Call to order at 10:45 am. Present: Jacky, Nadine, Liza, Carol; Lorna (10:45-12:15) & Frank (10:45 to 11:10)
LO*OP Web site(s): hosting, webmaster, URL.
The Big Tent URL expires in early June so this is the most urgent item.
A free account on Inreach.com was donated; the new website is up: http://www.loopcenter.org . Liza will teach us how to upload ourselves and submit pages to her for uploading. Liza and Jacky were commended for the hard work that brought us to this point.
Motion 1 (Unanimously approved): We will use the Inreach account as the LO*OP Center official website.
LO*OP board member communication: how, how often, etc.: We will not be able to use the message board after early June but we can keep the Google group
The message board (embedded messages) should be allowed to die. Jacky suggested using a googlegroup. A website bulletin board could be on the LOOP site.
Motion 2 (Unanimously approved): We will allow the Boardserver message board to die after June.
It was agreed that the Googlegroup be retained, for now.
LO*OP Projects: What are the plans for the History of Microcomputers in Education (HCE) for the rest of the Calendar Year? Will HCE be the only project? Should we encourage others? What are the criteria? What will attract projects to LO*OP?
Liza will go to Netherlands to attend an IEEE meeting for HCE. Since HCE has no funds for this purpose she will finance the trip and conference fees herself. Liza has set a goal to raise $100,000 for HCE by end of year through individual donations. Beyond running HCE and serving as LO*OP’s corporate executive director, she prefers not to administer more projects.
Nadine’s after-school project died when she missed the grant proposal deadline. Sally Westgate’s “BuyBlue” education and political website (for disclosing the political orientation of various merchants) did not get beyond the conception stage as she would not accept the 10% requirement.
Motion 3 (Unanimously approved): The LO*OP Board will not actively solicit new projects until January 2008.
Secretary’s report including minutes of Feb. meeting:
Carol’s legal responsibility as corporate secretary is to keep the Minute Book and official board member list, to distribute notices of board meetings according to the procedures stated in the corporate bylaws and to file the Statement of Information for domestic nonprofit corporations with the CA Secretary of State biannually. She may perform these duties personally or delegate them to another under her supervision. The Minutes will include only the Motions and very pertinent discussion. Carol will also circulate her more complete notes.
Motion 4 (Unanimously approved): The minutes of the Feb. 4, 2006 Meeting are accepted as submitted unless Lorna, Nadine or Frank (who did not receive their copies in advance of today’s meeting) send corrections to Carol by May 18, 2006. In the event of corrections requested, a revised version of the Feb. 4, 2006 Minutes will be circulated and the revised Minutes will be accepted unless corrections are submitted to Carol by June 4, 2006.
Treasurer’s report.
Jacky’s report covers only one of two checking accounts, not including the JVLP account. Liza would call it a “Checkbook Report.” The ensuing discussion on how Liza and Jacky will handle the bookkeeping will be reported in the Board notes.
LO*OP Center’s fiscal year 2004-05 tax returns must be filed by May 15, 2006 or risk late penalties. Liza is meeting with corporate accountant, Laarni von Ruden, tomorrow to provide any missing data and will sign the returns in time for the filing deadline. All filed tax returns are available at the LO*OP office for review by board members from May 15, 2006 on.
Followup on collecting money from the Vasconcellos project (JVLP)
JVLP has become more hassle than it’s worth. It distracts Liza from other work including HCE.
Motion 5 (Unanimously approved): Our relationship with JVLP will end by Dec. 31, 2006 whether or not JVLP has received its 501 (c) (3) federal tax exempt status. If JVLP can not legally receive the fund balance, it will be given to the Stu Cooney donor-advised fund at the Tides Foudation of San Francisco. The fund can be held at Tides until either JVLP has the appropriate status to receive it or arrangements can be made to return it to the respective donors.
Motion 6 (Unanimously approved): Liza will ask JVLP to authorize $15,000 to be transferred to the LO*OP general fund for payment for services incurred through the end of 2006 calendar year.
Amendment to Motion 6 (Unanimously approved): $15,000 or direct expenses, whichever is larger.
The ensuing discussion on how the JVLP termination will be handled will be reported in the Board notes.
Closing discussion on Jacky’s proposal (copy attached and included in these Minutes) including a LO*OP Orbit project to establish a structure for taking on new projects.
Liza is dubious, due to the work required on her part to make any project succeed. She sees LO*OP as attracting, not promoting new projects; also she’s unwilling to umbrella other projects at this point. Nadine reminded us that any eventual new projects would be brought in be an individual board member. The discussion was tabled.
Motion 7 (Unanimously Approved): Adjournment: 12:25 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Carol Vesecky, Recording Secretary
Feb 2006
LO*OP Center Inc.
Periodic Board Meeting, Sat., Feb.4, 2006, At the home of Jacky Hood, 1066 Fife, Palo Alto, CA
Call to order at 2:25 pm; Present: Jacky, Nadine, Frank , Liza, Carol, Lorna
Reading of 2004-2005 Minutes:
Motion 1 (Unanimously Approved): 2004-2005 Minutes adopted as read.
Review of Agenda
Discussion of difference between LO*OP Board meetings and project/program meetings – Liza
Board meeting frequency – Nadine
Motion 2 (Unanimously Approved): Board meetings will be held twice yearly. Liza will prepare each agenda. In addition, Liza will circulate monthly to all Board members a report covering all active projects.
Various chances in the order of discussion were made during the meeting.
Motion 3 (Unanimously Approved): Lorna McDougall is elected to the LO*OP Center, Inc. Board of Trustees and will be eligible to vote in the May, 2006 meeting.
Current Year Outlook – Group discussion
Reports
Projects: History of Computing in Education - Liza
Recent progress; Nadine’s response to Overview
Vasconcellos Legacy Project –Liza
Tax-exempt status not applied for as of Jan 1, 2006; Liza’s concerns
Board instructions to Liza: 1) Seek membership on the Vasconcellos Legacy Project Board of Directors; 2) Request monthly reports and a list of expenditures; 3) Acquire the 10% of revenue fee originally agreed upon from JVLP by March 1, 2006.
Motion 4 (Unanimously Approved): All future projects of LO*OP Center must agree to contribute 10% of any monetary income to the LO*OP Center general fund. At its discretion, LO*OP Center may choose to spend any or all of these funds for the benefit of the contributing project. Any tangible or intellectual property generated through the use of these funds reverts to LO*OP at spin off or cessation of the project.
General Operations:
Current Facilities and Space sharing
Commend HCE team for office organizing - Liza
Motion 5 (Unanimously Approved): The LO*OP Board commends the HCE team for organizing the office.
Financial: - Jacky
Grants, Cash Flow
Other Old Business
Need for new Board members
Motion 6 (Unanimously Approved): Adjournment: 4:30 pm
Nov. 2005
LO*OP Center Inc.
Annual Board Meeting
Sunday, Nov. 6, 2005
At the home of Liza Loop, 192 E. Middlefield Rd, Mt. View, CA
Minutes submitted for review and correction by Liza Loop
Call to order at 2:30 pm
Present: Jacky, Nadine, Frank (by telephone), Liza, Carol (by telephone)
All agenda topics were discussed and motions approved unanimously.
Reading of 2003-2004 Minutes:
Additions
Changes
Approval
Motion 1: Waive reading of minutes.
Motion 2: Commend Carol for a fine job catering GLOBE Promotional event.
Motion 3: Commend Frank for his work on Seniors GLOBE and Happy Valley School.
Reports
Projects:
Senior GLOBE – rumors of its demise are not exaggerated – Liza, Frank
History of Microcomputing in Education – Jacky, Liza
Recent progress
Introduction of new team members
Visit http://www.seedwiki.com/wiki/learning_options_history_of_microcomputing_in_education/learning_options_history_of_microcomputing_in_education.cfm
Computer History Museum Update - Liza
Stanford Collections Update - Liza
Oral History Interviews – Liza, Jacky
See http://www.seedwiki.com/wiki/learning_options_history_of_microcomputing_in_education/how_the_basic_language_began.cfm?save=true&snew=true&new=yes&pname=How%20the%20BASIC%20Language%20Began&purlname=how_the_basic_language_began&wname=learning_options_history_of_microcomputing_in_education
Vasconcellos Legacy Project – Jim Weston via Liza
Separate corporation formed
Tax-exempt spin-off expected in Feb.
Library – Liza, Jacky
Closing
Book donations
Keizai Society
General Operations:
Current Facilities
Space Sharing
Financial:
Grants
Cash Flow
Tax Returns
Motion 4: Include interim Treasurer’s report in these minutes as submitted; revise budget on page 4.; circulate final report by email for final written approval by board members.
Current Year Outlook
Affiliates
Frank Rosten –
Liza Loop -
Other Old Business
Need for new Board members
Motion 5: Invite Lorna McDougall, Jay Thorwaldson, and Richard Karpinsky to join the Board.
Update Note from LL : Lorna will be at the Feb 4th meeting in person.
: Jay declined because a board position would make it inappropriate for him to feature us in his newspaper, the Palo Alto Weekly.
: Richard has not responded yet.
Other New Business
Grant Seeking
Motion 6: Funding campaign goal for 2005-6 fiscal year is $12,000; prepare campaign calendar.
Motion 7: The Board reaffirms that virtual attendance at meetings may be substituted for in person attendance at the discretion of the individual member.
Motion 8: Board will convene for its next meeting on Sat., Feb. 4, 2006 at 10 a.m.
Adjournment 3:30 pm
Respectfully submitted:
Liza Loop
Acting Secretary
Jan 26, 2006
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Aug 2005
MINUTES OF LOOP CENTER BOARD MEETING
August 7, 2005 Home of Nadine Grant
Attendance: Nadine Grant, Jacky Hood, Liza Loop, Carol Vesecky
Absent: Frank Rosten
The meeting was called to order at 2:02 pm. The minutes were read and accepted as submitted. It was agreed that a complete “secretary’s report” will be submitted, along with minutes containing only motions.
Treasurer’s report 2003-2004. Jacky said that a financial report showing $120,000, 90% of which is the John Vasconcellos Legacy Project (JVLP), will be circulated to the Board. Quicken has been installed on Liza’s computer. Jacky is trying to ensure that the numbers agree. Data entry is being done by hand. In two weeks the work could be done, by Sept. 5. Liza will meet with John Vasconcellos to discuss his needs for further LO*OP services.
Question for Liza: what vision does she have for LO*OP Center in 5 years?
A: There should be 2-3 projects Liza is not involved in. Liza could be “Founder” and Emeritus Board member.
GLOBE should be independent, Liza being only a trainer of trainers. It should be administered by others.GLOBE can live or die -- if it has momentum, it lives.
Projects like the Writing Center should be proposed. They should only happen if they come with funding.
Vasconcellos should be spun off; it’s too large. HME should be nearing completion or completed, having spent ca. $500,00 with an annual budget around $200-300,000. It should have a traveling exhibit to be rented or donated to museums around the world. Liza should be participating in conferences, speaking on topics such as the future of education. Of course, underneath, research and networking should be happening.
Question: Is JVLP too large? What’s the definition of too large? Won’t History of Microcomputing in Education (HME) become too large? Liza: For one project not to overpower, projects need to be comparable. Nadine: You mean the administrative overhead should be comparable. Liza: JVLP has its own director; it runs itself. Jacky: If a project grows up outside of LO*OP, as did JVLP, does it seem less manageable? Liza: Jim Weston is JVLP’s director and reports to me. What needs to be reduced is worry time. Tax returns had to be done; we had to play catch-up last year. This year should be easier. The plan was for the JVLP project to be spun off by now, it having become its own nonprofit. Be part of LO*OP was an interim solution for them. Currently it’s unclear whether or not they will withdraw.
Projects should have a life of their own. Any project will have all the features listed on the back of the green brochure:
Stage 0 Conceptualization, Partnering, and Proposal
Stage 1 Funding/Marketing
Stage 2 Research/Design, Development, Delivery
Stage 3 Evaluation
Stage 4 Remarketing/Dissemination or Dormancy
Mission Statement clarification and restatement consideration using inputs from Frank’s email summary:
Jacky: It would be helpful to select a subset of the “education” vision.
LO*OP’s Mission Statement was defined as “To promote people’s ability to learn and adapt to changing social, technological conditions.” A motion was taken that the current mission statement be continued.
Clarification of criteria for acceptable LO*OP projects: (Although it is assumed that projects have to be accepted by the Board and are therefore screened, it would be nice to be able to attract projects without the prospect of them “running screaming when they realize that LO*OP does not fund projects.”
Liza suggested projects should complete Stage 0 and be well into Stage 1 before they become “official” LO*OP activities.
Discussion moved to “cultural” and “technology” as being two categories that need to be covered in a project. Recapping, the IRC was mainly cultural; Touch Science Russia was both; Keizai was hard to define because it has so many projects; JVLP is cultural; Open Educative Systems was both.
A motion was taken that priority should be given to projects that have both cultural and technological components.
Criteria for projects were defined as follows:
1. The project must have the same fiscal year as LO*OP Center.
2. The project must have a time frame, i.e. a beginning and an end.
3. It must have the support of at least one Board member.
4. It must have a written proposal for Phase Zero that includes conceptualizing, partnering, a budget detailing what resources and funding are needed, Stage 1, details where resources and funding are to come from.
5 Scope – who are the beneficiaries?
Written Proposals to the LO*OP Board should contain a definition of success or failure and details for measuring results. If the Board votes to support a proposal, it will issue a letter showing the Board’s motion to submit the proposal to outside sponsors and/or grant makers.
A suggestion was made that preference be given to projects undertaken jointly with other organizations.
Liza has a preference for projects that accomplish what she wants done in the world. The question of whether it is easier or more difficult if LO*OP has a partner organization rests on whether collaboration makes Liza’s work load greater or lesser. Preference should be given to projects in which LO*OP’s administrative labor is not overtaxed. Optimizing the use of Board resources means minimizing the labor the Board contributes.
LO*OP historically has gotten a lot of its projects because its overhead has been kept at 10%. Other nonprofits (e.g. Stanford) typically used to charge between 50 and 100% for administrative overhead. LO*OP Center hasn’t been run in that way. In the past, project leaders have managed all their own monies, raised all project support, and supplied their own offices and equipment. As administrator, Liza has ONLY reviewed proposals and financial reports and filed the organization’s taxes on a volunteer basis. If Liza works on a project (as compared to overall administration) but is not paid in cash, her labor is counted as an in-kind donation to the project.
Example: A project with an overall budget of $150,000 pays $15,000 to LO*OP from which LO*OP pays its accountant, administrative office rent, telephone, insurance and other G&A expenses. LO*OP uses a fund accounting system which treats each project as a separate fund that pays a percentage of G&A. If there is surplus money in a project’s G&A account, the project leader may request that LO*OP purchase equipment for use during the project period. That equipment is retained by LO*OP at the close of the project.
All Project Leaders should expect is Board approval, Board advice and consent, tax filing by LO*OP (after they file a financial report using LO*OP’s format in a timely way). Compatible assistance -- no fundraising! This should cost them a minimum of 10% or $1000. A project must have at least $10,000, including cash flow and volunteer labor.
Question: When does it become LO*OP Center’s project – is this based on the success and failure of the proposal? Jacky: in companies, a project comes to the board, they fund phase 0, and no one is embarrassed if the project is not successful.
Vision: LO*OP should have a $240,000 budget, minimal administrative requirements, board members should be more than administrative help; also resources that can be tapped for projects to do speaking engagements, backed by networking, research and collaboration.
Learning Options – History of Microcomputing
Creation of a Project Manager Job Description: This topic was not discussed, but will be covered by Jacky via email.
Status of Existing Projects:
a. Vasconcellos project: JVLP approached LO*OP because Liza was on Vasconscellos’ initial committee. His donors needed tax deductibility; this money cannot legally be run through his political funds. The project met the “culture” criterion. There was a written proposal, emailed around the Board and approved by the Board. There was an exit strategy – by 6/1/05, they should have had their own nonprofit. There has been no notification of a 501 (c) (3); this must be brought up again. A motion is needed that the Board is willing to extend until Dec. 31, 2005. JVLP is paying LO*OP $5000 per year. They need to pay their second $5000 at the end of the year. 1 ½ years have been paid. Insurance needs to be paid. Why not just invoice them (Nadine’s suggestion)? Liza suggested that LO*OP include official notice that they need to withdraw by Dec. 31.
b. GLOBE: Liza explained that Frank has forgotten he was told there was as yet no funding when he came to onto the GLOBE project. She picked out 20-30 foundations to study and described the process but Frank considered the fundraising to be outside his skill set. He continued to work without assurance of payment. Jacky agrees with Frank that getting grants is too much work for the net return. She prefers soliciting corporate sponsorship.
Liza brought GLOBE into LO*OP eight years ago while working on a project for MidPeninsula High School. She has worked on it as a part-time volunteer since then but it was officially dormant until three years ago (one event had been held). At that time, Frank offered and accepted the management, including the fundraising, which he said he’d try to do if Liza would help. They both did a lot of work. The Whaletail proposal to the California Coastal Commission was rejected.
Liza believes a mistake is made when people start working on Stage Two (Development, etc.) before Stage One (Funding & marketing) is completed. Under such circumstances, if the funding process fails, potential staff persons will often complain, “I need to pay my rent.” LO*OP needs to be clear in its boundaries. Jacky commented that, in her company, normally a subcontractor is not paid unless her company has been paid. LO*OP needs to have contracts -- words on paper. If a person is performing on his/her own, prior to funding, that person is a volunteer, LO*OP is not responsible for salaries or stipends. Stage 0 and 1 get done by volunteers. Stage 2 is the paid phase. Stage 3 is evaluation, paid or not, depending on whether evaluation has been included in the budget and the budget has not been overrun.
Liza wants to become GLOBE’s trainer of trainers, developing a self-sustaining GLOBE training and support center. Is it OK if we consider the time she spends doing that as a volunteer to be an in-kind donation that gets costed out? To be self-supporting, community marketing is needed. The purpose of the upcoming event is to publicize that LO*OP Center is doing GLOBE. Carol suggested we may need more than one event such as that planned for Aug. 27 to attract interested parties. (LL: Event rescheduled to Sat. Sept 17th to permit proper publicity.)
Frank is less available, so GLOBE is on hold – it’s looking for a Project/Program manager. Jacky: maybe the name should be changed to GLOBE Train-the-Trainer. It’s a resource to train trainers. Marketing should talk about Training the Trainer, not so much GLOBE. Liza believes first we need to let them know what GLOBE is. Educating them that you’re the resource. From the marketing p.o.v. it makes a difference how you target. GLOBE activity is LO*OP activity, promoting Liza as Trainer.
We’re still in Phase 0, Conceptualization.
c. History of Microcomputing in Education (HME):LO*OP Center’s own history is computer history. The HME project is seen as a way of processing Liza’s “stuff”; also forwarding LO*OP’s initial mission of applying technology to education and predicting major changes in education. This change hasn’t happened. A benefit for Liza is cleaning out her storage units. The public benefit is to see the difference between what was done then and what is being done now and what still can be done.
An original project write-up needs to be done for this project. (Liza’s action item)
Jacky: For HME, the Program Champion is Liza and Jacky is Program Manager, while Jacky also recruits another Project Manager. “HME lite” is Jacky’s name for the first Phase of HME. Its objectives are: creating a database, archiving, photographing the physical stuff, scanning, and doing websites. An estimate was sent to the board identifying volunteer positions along with the paraphernalia needed to run the project. The real work involves archiving artifacts and database development. Another organization Jacky is working with has a “working board” that meets 2-4 times a month. Jacky suggests we try this. Different types of volunteers will make up the working board. If she gets the right volunteers, the project could be completed within 1 - 1 ½ years.
Liza’s conception of the whole History of Microcomputing in Education Project is larger than Jacky’s, so they have agreed to view the section Jacky is working on as HME Phase A. It should complete Stages 0-4 independently of Phase B, etc. Liza’s writeup will reflect this phased approach.
Some initial HME information has been published on a Wiki, meaning we can change it. Roughly 200-300 photos have been scanned. Later they can be moved to a non-editable site.
Website: Liza: projects are underway. Past and present achievements, requirements for future projects will be posted. Loopcenter.net is now available as a domain name. It will have a different look and feel from loopcntr.org which can remain Liza’s personal page.
The Project Manager job description can be put on the Wiki by Jacky.
The meeting was adjourned at 2 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Carol Vesecky
Nov. 2004